Bluefish
 

I love catching bluefish....well accept when I was fishing soft plastics.

Running joke....if you want to see if there is bluefish around put on a
soft plastic. I hear they will swim a mile to just cut it in half.

That said....I find asmfc to be suspect in their bluefish assessment and
therefore apply the same opinion on anything they say about any fish.

15 bag limits and no assessment of over-fishing.

http://www.asmfc.org/species/bluefish

What a joke. And that graph appears to be more or less stable since 1990.
For me they have been in steep decline since 2008. In 2008, you could not
get away from them in the surf. Perhaps catching hundred in a season. Now...they
are almost as rare as weakfish. You need to seek out geographic haunts to
find them. A couple years ago I did not catch a single one. Last year it was
two. I fish NY to MA....a good chunk of the northeast.

I have always felt the asmfc numbers are manipulated, but with bluefish they
seem wildly incorrect. My findings....my numbers of bluefish caught annually
would suggest that they should be on an endangered list.

I know bluefish is not held in high respect and we often just ring the bell
about striped bass....but once again we have environmental management
at its best. 15 bag limit on unicorns.

Science....humbug.

The bluefish and striped bass have a partnership in the eco system. I often
have reflected on how blues eat the tails and bass eat the heads. We can
probably chalk that up to the list of why we dont have as many bass
around...their partners in crime are also absent.

puppet ,

plenty of 3# & under in Narr bay with a few 6 - 9 #

Thanks for the heads up. I think mtk in ny and sandy hook in nj are other areas that still seem to hold them.

My plug collection is healthier without blues...but i suspect the fishery/ecosystem wuld be healthier if more were around.
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as of yet .there is a real shortage of small bait ><>

We had 24 eels destroyed by 9:30 today plenty of blue fish
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I didn’t catch/land 1 single bluefish last year up inside or outside Boston harbor.
Last 4-5 years they show up for a few weeks (can’t get away from them) then disappear 🤔
Not even 1 day last year.
It use to be once they show up the Mackeral disappear.
We have Mackeral all season now.
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Was at the 1661 Inn on Block this week and pigged out on their brunch. Usually the centerpiece of the buffet is a smoked bluefish (Block Island Lox). It was missing and replaced by a smoked salmon. I asked the manager what happened to the traditional bluefish. She replied that the local fishermen couldn’t find any. Hard to imagine professional Block Island fishermen not being able to supply one bluefish in June. Sad state of affairs.
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I am having a hard time finding the www.bluefishforever.com site
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I ,m sure not crying ,but I,m still amazed how low the price is for them in RI ………..I know RI is always a descent drop than Boston …….But .50 for the last month >>WTF

.50 is a good price for bluefish. When I was fishing out of Montauk some guys wouldn't get enough for bluefish to cover the shipping costs for a carton.

I remember fishing out of my old Basstracker V17 aluminum back it the mid to late 80’s out of Scituate and the numbers of peanut bunker from there all the way to Boston and inside Boston as well was unreal. You could just clear the jetty and catch as many gator blues as you could until your arms ached. I hate small blues, because they just chew up my plastic, but back in those days they were 15 lbers and bigger all day long. Yeah they still chewed up my plastic, but when they are that big, it was well worth the sacrifice.
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2x4 strapped across The transom with bungees tied to 100# ? Mono with hoochies..... hand line them in, wallup em on the head , throw it back in,, fill the boat ,,, fun :-)

that sounds like a terrible omen, Pat.
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I generally am not a fan of oily or funky fish but about 8 years ago attended a local wedding and the caterers served some decent sized blues as a buffet entree. Some of the best fish I’ve ever had.
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Well cared for, bled and iced and served fresh it is good. Yesterday's just became fluke bait....
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I miss blues.... I rarely ever catch them anymore... they would often provide some action on slow nights, or get kids easily hooked on surfcasting... not anymore it seems.

I might be in minority but I find equal enjoyment in catching most
anything. Bluefish, scup, searobin, fluke, skate, dogfish, squid,
clams....hahahaha, each one I enjoy.

Yes striped bass is high on the list, but I really do enjoy catching
anything.

Those of you who show indifference for other species like bluefish, I
wish you would reconsider. All of these animals are linked together in
a way that is critical to the targets that most of you prefer....like
striped bass.

There is something fascinating about nearly every creature in the
ocean. Something as mundane or as most feel as a nuisance....the
sea robin. What a crazy engineering. Those suckers gliding around
the sea floor. I have seen them blitz....hahahaha.

This is not my pic, but I really dig the patterns on searobins.

https://live.staticflickr.com/3429/3...11979076_b.jpg

In spirit of what we enjoy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4QSYx4wVQg

That’s cool,,,
LOL the lead singer looks like Mike Delzingo... I can just see it... LMAO

The B52s are great. That song was written in 1978...the good old days.

Get into the station wagon we are going to the cape!

http://modernkiddo.com/images/stationwagon_gang.jpg